Forgery accusations leave the retro games collecting community shaken

Vintage game collecting is more than just a simple exercise in nostalgia; it’s a hobby that potentially sees thousands of dollars changing hands. Some rare copies of highly sought-after titles can fetch more than $1,000,000, like this one. Super Mario 64 with a condition grading of 9.8 A++ — one of the highest grades for a game as issued by game certification company Wata Games. With so much at stake, it’s easy to see why the games collecting market is also ripe for forgeries, with one recent large-scale forgery involving an estimated €200,000 ($204,254) worth of transactions in counterfeit games.

Enrico Ricciardi was the accused of defrauding other collectors. Ricciardi refused to respond to numerous requests for comment. Ars Technica reports that Ricciardi purchased several PC games for a small group known as Big Box PC Game Collectors. For his part, Ricciardi has denied any wrongdoing, stating that he was also a victim of the forgery who merely passed along these games, with a sizable bulk of them reportedly coming from a trader he has only referred to as “Mister X.”

When Kevin Ng saw his copy, Ricciardi became suspicious that it was fakery and began investigating. AkalabethThe original Ultima game, created by Richard Garriott in 1980. Also available as a Japanese version. Mystery HouseSierra On-Line since 1980 This revelation was followed up by many similar ones from other collectors. Dominik Richardt was first to realize this. share his suspicions publicly via Twitter. According to a FAQ by BBPCGC, several collectors claim that the goods were purchased as early as 2015.

Dominik Reichardt, photo

Is it possible that this forgery went unnoticed for many years, despite retro games and the memorabilia associated with them becoming more valuable? The affected collectors pointed out several signs that could have been spotted in hindsight. The packaging for these disks had hanging-tab holes, which looked more like they were hand-cut. However, some stickers didn’t fit perfectly. Furthermore, printed materials had blemishes that appeared to be printed on, such as dirt and creases, and CMYK dot patterns were found in places where they shouldn’t be, such as the sky in a black-and-white photograph printed on a package of an Ultima counterfeit.

These discrepancies were ignored, however, as the original games involved in this exchange were rare and not easily verified. “The games he was dealing with [were] super rare, for one thing,” said Joel McCoy, the founder of BBPCGC. “They’re good enough that you wouldn’t question them at a glance. It’s not until you start really examining them that it’s apparent.” At the same time, plenty of vintage games — such as Akalabeth — were also handmade, which means that certain aspects of the game’s packaging would feature some imperfections. McCoy explained that such games “predate the gaming industry,” with Garriott producing the first 20 copies of the game from his own home. “[These games were] literally put together by hand on a kitchen table,” said McCoy.

But successful forgeries don’t just involve high-quality counterfeits. Ricciardi, who is a distributor for many of the forged copies of this book, requested that trades and purchases he participated in not be revealed to avoid jealousy from other collectors. Stephen Emond is an author and has written several guides to the Ultima series. Ricciardi collaborated on the creation of a comprehensive guide for Sierra On-Line. In an update to a Kickstarter project for another Ultima guide, Emond wrote about Ricciardi’s requests for secrecy:

Because you are such close friends, he was happy to offer you rare items at a very low price. But don’t tell anyone. Please keep it secret. <Insert game dev here> You gave me an additional and I believe you should get it. <Insert collector here> would be incredibly jealous because they’ve been begging to get it for years.

Ricciardi was also known for his deep knowledge of classic video games. He boasted about both his extensive collection and his connections with developers. such as John and Brenda Romero. “Enrico [Ricciardi]He insinuated further into a position of authority in the community through the company he owned. He maintained regular contact with many original developers as well as the major collectors. He also made a point of collaborating with archivists, researchers, and authors like myself,” Emond said. Ricciardi had been a moderator for communities such as BBPCGC and no one was able to believe that the games he traded weren’t real.

“[Ricciardi]Was The go-to person for rarities, and the games I bought seemed genuine,” said Reichardt. “He was a nice man, very knowledgeable in the rare Ultima release […]He often shows screenshots of previous eBay auctions, either of the games he has won, or other auctions. [of]Selts such as the [Mount] Drash box. He quickly announced us to be friends and of kindred spirits in our collection.”

The forgery left an indelible mark on many of the members of the vintage gaming community. “I was personally torn. This was someone that I had known for many years. On the other hand, his guilt was unquestionable,” Emond said. “When he messaged me after his exile, I went with my gut and played ignorant. He had every chance to be honest. What I got was his ‘old man’ defense. […] That’s a plausible defense. That could help to eliminate a few poor trades. It is only evidence that makes it seem small. Evidence is mountains in numbers. His stories about ‘Mister X’ varied wildly with each telling.

“This wasn’t a nameless or faceless outsider like Mister X trying to swindle his way into people’s wallets,” Emond continued. “This was a respected member of the community — and a friend.”

This forgery had a significant impact on more than just the BBPCGC Community. “It’s not certain at this time how many forgeries are out there,” said McCoy. “Just one or two forgers operating for a long period of time can flood the market with forgeries.”

Stephane Racle – Photo

Stephane Racle was one of the buyers who purchased Ricciardi’s games. He is an avid collector and has a passion for game preservation. Racle bought a copy an Apple II classic called The Chambers of XenobiaDavid Bitton was a middleman who traded with Ricciardi. Racle creates a disk image, which is something that most collectors don’t do. This allows the game to be uploaded directly to the Internet Archive. It was this process that revealed to him that his copy of the game wasn’t authentic.

“There’s somebody in the community. His name is 4. He’s an Apple II archivist [and] preservationist. And what we’ve done over the years is whenever I find something that’s interesting, because it hasn’t been archived, it hasn’t been preserved, that sort of thing, I’ll image the disk and then I’ll send him the disk image,” Racle explained. “And then he takes care of converting it, to verifying it, converting it to a file that can be used on emulators, [and] he puts it on the Internet Archive.” However, 4AM soon told Racle that the disk contained a cracked version of the game — one that was already available online.

Racle was worried that other collectors might be discouraged from sharing high-resolution scans and memorabilia of their games. As the owner of an archival site named Computer Gaming World Museum — which houses digital issues of the now-defunct Computer Gaming World magazine — he believes that such information on games should not only serve as a historical record, but should also remain freely accessible to the public.

Jaap Arriens/NurPhoto via Getty Images

Jason Scott is an Internet Archive archivist who believes that the increasing speculative cost of collecting vintage games has impeded preservation efforts. “The rampant uptick in the cost of artifacts over the last 20 years is much more damaging to a preservationist than somebody turning out to be a fraudster,” said Scott. “The narrative that your old material that contains rotting digital artifacts and digital data on it is in some way a flippable asset, that could earn you funds and money, is like 100 times more intense in terms of making preservation hard.” He shared that he often gets requests to appraise the value of games so that the owner can then attempt to sell them to the Internet Archive. As it’s a nonprofit, the Internet Archive doesn’t dabble in what Scott refers to as “speculative purchases,” and that it’s simply “one step above the dumpster.”

“If you are to the point that you realize you are not going to be able to extract value from [a game], then give it to my group and we will do our best to preserve its contents and make sure it’s in good shape. Otherwise no, I’m not gonna sit here in a room, holding my hand up, bidding on something,” he said. Scott also pointed out that this forgery case is more akin to packaging piracy as opposed to software piracy and fake creations — with the latter being an issue that would have a greater impact on preservation.

Frank Cifaldi, a game preservationist and director of the Video Game History Foundation, echoed Scott’s sentiment. “There’s been instances, in the past, of fake prototype games, so games that are not in a box and sold to people… games that never came out, for example,” said Cifaldi. “There’s been some instances where people in the preservation world have pooled money and purchased a prototype of an unreleased game, like from Japan, that ended up being a bootleg, so that’s something we’ve seen that affects the preservation world.” Cifaldi also pointed out that private collectors are an essential part of the preservation ecosystems, and that making high-resolution scans of vintage games wouldn’t be adequate for preservation. Cifaldi believes that a physical copy of the game should be given to the Strong National Museum of Play in order for it to be confirmed.

Brenda Romero suggested it recently on her personal Twitter account that developers who were active in the late ’70s and ’80s should consider sharing their materials with reputable museums, rather than individual collectors (like Ricciardi, who had connections to several veteran game developers). “If a game collector approaches you as a fan of your early work, be aware that they may have a specific goal in mind which goes beyond just reaching out to say they’re your fan,” she wrote.